Our First Christmas in Florida!

To be honest this is the first year that I have had a really hard time getting into the Christmas Spirit - maybe it is because it is still 70 + degrees outside and we are still wearing shorts!  But this year we have had to make an extra special effort to make this year fun because we  I am having such a tough time being so far away from family!

Shaef is SOOOOOO excited about Christmas so that makes everything better!!  He can't wait to get "Chuggington Trains" from Santa, loves watching Christmas Movies, is loving all the treats that come along with the season, and brings an amazing happiness into our home!  

I also have the most AMAZING parents!!  My parents spent some much time and put so much love into sending us the 12 Days of Christmas filled with fun toys, decorations, and activities for our family!  I am so amazed with how personal each of the gifts are.  They really know each of their grandchildren (and children) so well and make sure that they show it!  We really have been spoiled by them but we all get so excited to open the "gift of the day" and then play together as a family!! It has been a huge blessing for us in so many ways!! THANK YOU Gram and Grandpa Tom!!!

Here are some of the activities we have been doing!

Candy Cane Mice!

Shaef loved picking the combination of colors for the bodies, noses, and ears.  

Today (Day 7) Shaef opened up some of the cutest puppets from my parents.....all homemade by my talented mother!  Shaef loves them!!  He even put them to bed in his own bed......

Lined them up and tucked them in on the ottoman....

And gives them hugs any chance he can get!

Day 6 from my parents was sugar cookie mix, sprinkles, and cookie cutters!  Shaef was very specific about the colors he wanted to make the different shapes of cookies (blue snowflakes, brown "ginger men" and green Christmas trees), but his favorite part was eating them.  I was impressed that we got as many cookies as we did since he ate 1/3 of the cookie dough!

He is so proud of how it turned out!

Shaef's favorite Christmas Movie of all time is the new "Grinch" movie. So we had a Grinch day!  We played at the green park (at our complex) and we made "Grinch Cookies" or Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies.  They were actually AMAZINGLY Tasty!!!

He also liked this dough - if you can tell he has his mouth full!

And we taught him how to lick the beaters!  Best part about cooking!

Day 3 of the 12 days of Christmas was a great day for Mr. Shaefer!  He got some new cars to add to his little collection of "Cars" cars.  "Bernouli" "Fin Mc" and "Holly" (as shaef calls them) joined his family of cars.  He has played with them every day since!!  Next on the list is to replace the little fake Chick Hicks with a real one! (maybe Santa will put one in his stocking!)

Shaef is becoming a pro at opening presents!  The only down side of the 12 Days of Christmas festivities is that Shaef asks us to open more presents about every hour.  Good thing Christmas is only in a few days!  

This is in the wrong order for sure...but the very first thing that we did to start of the Christmas Season was go to the annual Jacksonville Boat Parade.  It is so much fun and it was actually cool enough to wear long sleeves, jackets, and hats!  (The weather was just faking us out because it has been 70 degrees ever since!)

Shaef and his best friend Brooklyn sporting their new hats and gloves!

Lizzy is a favorite....she is sooo great with our little man!!

We still have some fun activities planned for the rest of this week and hopefully I will remember my camera to document all the fun!  I do have to say that even though we miss our families like CRAZY - it has been a pretty good 1st Christmas Season in Florida!